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CANADA
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CANADA - NORTHWEST TERRITORIES : SPELLBOUND BY THE AURORA by Austin Keith  When autumn descends on Canada, many vacationers flee south. But in the Northwest Territories (NORTHWEST TERRITORIES HOTELS), the chill of late August signals a hot season for tourism. Eager bands of visitors – over 10,000 each year – begin to arrive, and they keep on coming through winter and spring. All have a single goal: to experience the legendary Aurora Borealis.The Aurora is one of Nature’s greatest spectacles, and the NWT is among the best places to catch the show. While it’s centred over the North Magnetic Pole, the enormous auroral oval is actually more intense and colourful in the Subarctic, where it’s directly overhead. Numerous Aurora-seekers come halfway around the world from Japan, and the Northwest Territories tourism industry greets them with an exciting array of winter adventures. Packages from several communities and backcountry lodges typically include airport transfers, accommodations, meals, cold-weather gear, and excursions far out of town, where light pollution is low and the majestic display is brightest. Experienced guides are available to interpret the science and lore of the mesmerizing lights – and to provide expert tips on taking photographs. Bundled into Arctic-grade parkas, visitors travel into the wilderness by minibus, dogsled, or snowmobile. On a frozen lake surface, sipping hot cocoa and sheltering in heated tents, visitors can expect hours of enchantment. During the North’s short winter days, visitors can enjoy Northern activities like dog-mushing and snowshoeing while they wait for nightfall, when the Aurora again comes out to play. Yellowknife (YELLOWKNIFE HOTELS), the capital of Canada's Northwest Territories, the city that gold built in the 1930s and 1940s, has traded up – from gold to diamonds. The capital of Canada’s Northwest Territories, at 18,000 souls, is unlikely to push other world diamond centres off the map, but the city is riding high on the glittering stones, with one diamond mine in production some 200 km (125 miles) north, and another on the way. Local jewellers are now trading in the first “Arctic Diamonds”. Yellowknife has always had a jewel-like quality. Set in pink and grey granite on the shores of one of the world’s largest pristine lakes, Great Slave Lake, Yellowknife sparkles and glitters, summer and winter. There’s plenty to attract visitors besides the northern lights. When night is day, from May through August, there’s the “midnight sun”, up to 20 hours of daylight in late June – perfect for fishing, canoeing, sailing, golfing, and lounging on sun-warmed rock beside the lapping waters. The City’s historic Old Town retains some of its raffish “dirty thirties” excitement, with quaint eateries, boat, kayak, canoe and yacht rentals and a constant buzzing of float planes taking visitors on fishing trips. There’s even a local play about pilots and flying, performed right on the water’s edge on summer evenings, complete with real bush plane sound effects. Yellowknife’s “New Town” offers the services of a much larger city. Shopping for northern crafts and art is excellent. There’s the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, featuring displays of regional history and aboriginal lifestyles, the unique, snow house-shaped Legislative Assembly Building, and a lively visitor centre. Walking trails link the major sites around the city, summer and winter. Near the airport, there’s a beach and a summer stage, where folk and rock musicians perform. A picturesque highway winds 70 km (45 miles) east past lakes set with cottages, and noted for their fish and swimming holes, with excellent boating and canoeing potential. Visitor access is easy – via air from Edmonton, seven days a week, or via road, the Mackenzie and Liard Highways from Northern Alberta and British Columbia. The Northwest Territories includes forests, river valleys, mountains, tundra and Arctic coastline and islands. North of the Arctic Circle the sun does not set for a day or more in mid-summer. Nine NWT communities experience 24 hours of daylight on June 21 – Inuvik, Aklavik, Tuktoyaktuk, Paulatuk, Holman, Sachs Harbour, Tsiigehtchic, Fort McPherson and Colville Lake. In midwinter, the sun rises and sets so low on the horizon that daylight disappears for a week or more in December. YELLOWKNIFE HOTELS NORTHWEST TERRITORIES HOTELS Photo courtesy Northwest Territories Tourism |
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